Arsenal extend their lead in the Premier League as Eze proves decisive against his old club

Arsenal (1) 1 v Crystal Palace (0) 0

Eze 39

By Kaz Mochlinski at the Arsenal Stadium

Premier League

Matchweek 9

Arsenal tantalisingly increased their lead at the top of the Premier League as Eberechi Eze conjured a super strike to score the only goal of the game and overcome his former club Crystal Palace.

It produced another “one-nil to the Arsenal”, with another goal resulting from a set-piece, combined with another clean sheet. This time with the addition of the notorious recurring football theme of ex-players scoring against their old side.

In Eze’s first encounter with Palace since his £60 million transfer to Arsenal in the summer, he registered his first league goal for the Gunners and a first at his new home ground, adding to the one he scored at Port Vale in the League Cup.

This time the source was a needlessly-conceded free-kick, won by Bukayo Saka, who was continuing as captain despite having been unwell for a couple of days and doubtful to play, yet still remained determined not to be left out.

Holding on to possession towards the end of the first half, but going away from the danger area, backwards and square, Saka nevertheless drew a foul through an entirely unnecessary lunge by Yéremy Pino tracking back to help out his team defensively.

With Arsenal having become rightly renowned for their set-pieces, avoiding dead-ball situations was essential. To Palace’s regret, in this case it proved enough to decide a tight contest, leading to the winning goal.

Declan Rice provided another great delivery from the free-kick out on the right-hand side, and as so often Gabriel Magalhães rose highest to head the ball back across goal for Eze to finish with a fine first-time volley.

The England international showed impressive agility and balance as he ran in and met the ball acrobatically in mid-air. Out of respect for Palace, he limited his celebrations, but the home fans closest to him at the Clock End showed no such restraint.

Eze extended a rare run for the club to nine different scorers of Arsenal’s last nine goals in the Premier League - a further important attribute for a title-chasing team. But there are several similarities in that sequence producing repetitive results.

The Gunners fielded the same side in two London derbies on two successive weekends, and got two 1-0 wins from set-piece goals assisted by Gabriel headers and finished-off by forwards with a first-time contact in the penalty area.

A Saka left-footed corner to the near post for Leandro Trossard’s goal in the second half at Fulham, followed by a Rice right-footed free-kick to the far post for Eze’s effort in the first half against Crystal Palace.

In all, Arsenal have defeated three capital clubs in a row in their three league matches in October, having started off by beating West Ham United 2-0, maintaining a superiority over all their city rivals with just one loss in their last 20 London derbies.

The foundation has been their clean sheets, with now 10 in 13 games this season after five in succession this month. It has led to seven consecutive wins in all competitions and a run of 10 matches unbeaten since losing at Liverpool in August.

Winning ugly is often referred to as one of the requirements of potential champions. While it would not be fair to describe the Gunners as doing that, they have found an important ability to persistently beat tough opponents in close contests.

Despite not being at their best, neither at Fulham after the last international break, nor against Crystal Palace following a big midweek Champions League success over Atlético de Madrid, Arsenal are managing to keep getting victories.

In a game of extremely few clear-cut chances with the Eagles, between two teams who are very well coached and disciplined in their differing styles of play, the Gunners never really looked like conceding, let alone being likely to lose.

Indeed, just after half-time, Rice and Gabriel combined again at a free-kick to almost double the hosts’ lead, as another far post header by the Brazilian centre-back hit the crossbar from a tight angle.

Rice reacted to reach the rebound first for a shot through a crowd of players in the penalty area which Dean Henderson had to be sharp to save, before Saka came off the right wing to curl a long-range left-footed strike narrowly wide.

Once more, Arsenal were not error-free, but their recoveries are better than anybody else’s, and so they will be disappointed at missing out on a third consecutive Premier League match with no attempt on target allowed.

But it was only the one, and did not truly trouble David Raya. The Gunners’ greater concern could be about the aches, niggles and knocks which caused William Saliba, Riccardo Calafiori, Rice and Saka to be substituted before the final whistle.

A little bonus was the league debut and first home appearance of Piero Hincapié, the Ecuadorian left-sided defender, who came on as Arsenal switched to a back five late on to counter Palace’s strong finish to the game.

The Eagles’ energy was a surprise, considering that they had to play in the Conference League on Thursday, in contrast to the Gunners’ extra 48 hours time to rest and recuperate from their Champions League outing on Tuesday.

Palace’s players and manager, Oliver Glasner, rightly emphasised afterwards that they were proud to have gone toe-to-toe with one of the world’s top teams for the full 90 minutes. However, it can only be a partial consolation.

Since the end of their club record 19-match unbeaten run earlier in the month, Palace are without a win in their last four games, and they have not had a victory in the Premier League after their memorable success over Liverpool four weeks ago.

Now, the Reds’ latest surprise defeat, plus those of Manchester City and Chelsea this weekend, have enabled Arsenal to stretch away as Premier League leaders, going four points clear, coming up to a quarter of the way through the current campaign.

If that is undoubtedly the vital statistic, then the basis on which it has been built is still unusually notable. Six clean sheets in nine league matches. 11 set-piece goals out of the total of 16 scored by the Gunners in the Premier League this season.

A template for taking the title? It looks very promising. But Arsenal supporters will be reminding one other that it is only October. Seven months remain until everything is eventually settled in May. They will hope to enjoy each moment of it.

Arsenal: (4-2-3-1) Raya - Timber, Saliba (Mosquera 46), Gabriel Magalhães, Calafiori (Hincapié 82) - Zubimendi, Rice (Merino 82) - Saka (Martinelli 66), Eze (Lewis-Skelly 87), Trossard - Gyökeres

Crystal Palace: (3-4-3) Henderson - Richards, Lacroix, Guéhi - Muñoz (Uche 91), Wharton (Lerma 91), Kamada (Hughes 74), Mitchell (Sosa 91) - Ismaïla Sarr, Mateta, Pino (Nketiah 59)

Attendance: 60,103